Super Smash Brothers: Calamity Heart
by Calamity Heart
Summary: Old Smashers and new Smashers alike come together yet again for another pulse-pounding, heart-racing tournament to see who among them is the strongest being in the Multiverse! But dark shadows are starting to pass over the World of Trophies and old evil is slowly re-emerging. If the Smashers do not wise up to this ominous darkness soon, everything they know could be torn apart. R
1. Invitations 1: Mario and Co

Boom! Zing! Zip! C-Crack! KRAKOOM!

The night sky over Toad Town is alive with the terrible sounds of battle, both on the ground and in the air. After an agonizing siege, the gates of Toad Town have fallen, and the Koopa Troop storms through the streets in unimaginable numbers, overwhelming and capturing every Toad, enemy Koopa, and Doogan they could. The giant Goomboss and his endless army of Goombas and Koopa Troopas swept the ground, while Kamek and her terrifying Magikoopa battalion flew overhead, quelling the oncoming resistance with crowd-controlling spells like freezing, transforming, and encasing in magic bubbles.

Just above Mushroom Castle, the abode of Princess Peach, monarch of the peaceful utopia, a violent firefight was occurring between two flying structures. On one end of the exchange was the Starship Mario, a rather large, metal facsimile of the head and face of its namesake. While normally bright and tranquil, the sassy starship was now armed, three cannons extending from the top of the starship's hat, while a single larger cannon reached out from the tip of the nose. The ammunition in these cannons were brave red Lumas.

On the other end was a much more imposing-looking structure, Magma Manor. Held aloft by several horizontal propellers was a large castle atop a bowl-shaped mass of earth. On the front end of the castle's rocky support was an unnerving orange clown face with a wide, malevolent smile. Armed just as well, if not better, than the Starship Mario, the menacing castle used the loyal Bullet Bills as ammunition, causing the stalwart starship damage when they were not intercepted by the Lumas.

"Keep firing, men!" screams the draconic and arrogant voice of the King Koopa, Bowser himself, standing at the pinnacle of his fortress. "I wanna see that ugly mug blown right out of the sky!"

The captain of Starship Mario was not quite as confident. Princess Rosalina wiped sweat from her brow with a handkerchief as she watched her chances at repelling the enemy fortress get slimmer and slimmer. A large purple Luma dressed, oddly enough, in blue pants to match his wide blue yes, wore a frown as he approached the stressed star-captain.

"Mama…" Lubba starts. "The other Lumas are getting tired. Many have been hit by Bullet Bills, but not all have come back up. There are some still on the ground…" he reports sadly.

Rosalina chews frustratedly on the raw nail beds of her right hand, furling her thin platinum-blonde brows. "…Let those who need it rest, but retain as many Lumas as you can. We have to hold out until they can make it to the castle…"

Directly underneath the desperate fight in the air, Princess Peach watches on sadly from her balcony as Rosalina and her Lumas were losing ground. Tears wet her eyes, and she flinched as a Bullet Bill hit the starship right in the eye.

"Mario…" she whispers under her breath, holding her hands to the ovular pendant on her chest. "Where are you…"

Above her, a Luma successfully intercepts a Bullet Bill and it goes flying around wildly with no clear path until it explodes against the wall of the castle, making Peach gasp and teeter unsteadily.

"Princess!" calls an elderly voice from inside Peach's quarters. The blonde, blue-eyed monarch turns to see her trusted steward Toadsworth beckoning to her. "Princess! Come inside! It's dangerous!"

Nodding quickly, Peach daintily lifts the skirts of her signature pink ball gown from the floor and runs as fast as one can in high heels toward the safety of her room.

"Oh, Toadsworth, where could he be? Mario is never far from the castle. Why hasn't he come yet to protect me?"

The tears that had threatened to fall before now freely poured down Peach's cheeks. Toadsworth frowns and shakes his head. "The streets are flooded with Bowser's troops, Princess. Mario might be-"

"Captured? Injured? D-D-D-" Peach blubbers, trembling in place.

"No, Princess, no!" Toadsworth quickly interjects. "Do not think like that! Mario is fine; of course he's fine! He's probably busy with- Oh! Princess! Princess, look who's here!"

Toadsworth points toward the balcony door. Peach turns, and her world brightens as she sees Mario stand up and dust himself off after landing on the balcony. He slowly saunters into Peach's room.

"Mario! Oh, I knew you would come to protect me from Bowser! I just _knew_ it! I-"

Peach trails off as she witnesses something strange happen. Mario's lips upturn in a sly grin, and his bright blue eyes dim as they sink into his head and slowly become inky dark blue pits.

"M… Mario..?" Peach whimpers, backing away.

'Mario' continues walking casually toward the princess, and as he does, the rest of the color in his body begins to fade into the same shade of inky dark blue as his empty eyes. Out of 'Mario's' back pocket comes a plain-looking paintbrush, which swells to the length of a blade as he grips it.

"No…" Peach gasps under her breath, her eyes widening as she realizes.

"Yup. It's-a me…" the imposter says in a voice that's definitely not Mario's.

With a swift downward swing of his giant paintbrush, Shadow Mario sends a vertical wave of paint in Toadsworth's direction. The old Toad barely has time to gasp before he is smacked by the paint wave and thrown backwards, adhering to the wall and unable to break free. Peach turns quickly on her heel and runs away in a futile attempt to escape. Shadow Mario scoffs and extends his arm. A tendril of pain shoots from the tip of the brush toward Peach, growing fingers as it travels. Eventually, the paint tendril becomes a paint arm the wraps easily around Peach's waist and yanks her into the air screaming.

"You're ours again, Mama!" Shadow Mario chuckles, reaching for his face with his free hand. He pulls down the bandana that was not visible before, and was once an inky copy of Mario shimmered into his true form: Bowser Jr.

Meanwhile, the famed heroic brothers of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi, preoccupy themselves fending off surrounding Goombas and Koopas in the square of Toad Town. Both brothers valiantly launch fireball after fireball and throw punch after punch, kick after kick, but as many troops as they defeated, there are more and more waiting.

"It's-a no use, bro!" Luigi pants, swinging a mallet and sending a Goomba skyward. "There's-a just too many o'them!"

"Keep-a fightin'!" Mario grunts, kicking a Koopa shell and bringing down a whole line of combatants. "We've-a gotta get to that castle and save-a the Princess!"

"Oi…" Luigi groans, smashing the dome of another Goomba with his mallet. "What I'd give for a pair'o wings right about now…"

"Mail call! Somebody ask for wings?" squawks a Koopa's voice from somewhere above. Mario grapples with an enemy Koopa Troopa as he looks up and spots an old friend circling above.

"Hey, look! It's-a Parakarry!" he shouts. The named Parakoopa swoops down above Mario and grabs him under the arms, lifting him away from the ground. Luigi quickly scrambles away and latches onto Mario's ankles.

"Oof! Lucky for you, I've gotten stronger. I remember when I could barely carry one of you!" Parakarry chuckles as he flies higher into the air. The onslaught of Koopas and Goombas quickly fill the small circle that the brothers once occupied.

"Where to, champ? As if I don't already know." Parakarry snickers starting to fly toward Mushroom Castle.

"Oh, no!" Luigi gasps, pointing to the castle's western balcony with one hand, holding onto Mario's ankle tightly with the other. "Bro! Look!"

Mario looks to where Luigi is pointing and he squints as he sees one of Bowser's signature clown car taking off. As he gets closer, his eyes widen as he sees that it's Bowser Jr. in the clown car, and in his clutches is Princess Peach!

"Faster, Parakarry!" Mario orders.

"You got it, champ!" Parakarry responds determinedly, flapping his wings harder.

Bowser Jr.'s clown car hovers briefly around the pinnacle of Magma Manor before coming in for a landing right beside Bowser, who rubs his hands together.

"I got her, Dad!" Bowser Jr. announces proudly, waving his paintbrush in the air and gesturing to a restrained Princess Peach. "I got Mama for you! Can I have a little brother? I want a little brother right now!"

Peach's eyes widen and she screams again, fighting harder to free herself from the grip the powerful paint arm has around her waist. Bowser laughs and ruffles the tuft of her on his youngest pup's head.

"Patience, my boy, patience. We've gotta get Mama reacquainted with the family again! Make her feel special… Comfortable… The works!"

"The works!" Bowser Jr. repeats. "I'll get the hot tub warmed up!"

The little Koopa prince waddles toward the clown car again, but is blown back as a spiked blue shell flies from the sky and strikes the vehicle, causing it to explode. Even Bowser staggers.

Parakarry swoops overhead. Luigi, who threw the shell which he retrieved from Parakarry's storage pouch, drops down first, and Mario lands beside him.

"Not so fast, bignoses!" Luigi barks. "Release-a the princess!"

Bowser Jr. lands on the ground with an "Oof!" and the paintbrush flies out of his hand. The paint arm dissolves and Peach shrieks as she plummets to the floor.

Mario runs quickly to catch Peach, but is kicked aside by Bowser, who easily catches and holds Peach in his giant paw.

"Why is it then whenever I want to do something fun with the princess, you have to be there to ruin _everything_?" Bowser roars, breathing a large stream of fire toward Mario, who quickly leaps aside. No sooner than he does, Bowser Jr. retrieves his paintbrush and pulls his bandana over his face.

"It's go-time, punks!" the little Koopa growls before starting to swing wave after wave of paint at Parakarry, trying to knock him out of the sky. The Paratroopa and his powerful wings easily defy the Koopa prince's attempts, and while Bowser Jr. is distracted with him, Bowser Sr. focuses all of his might on trying to crush the Mario Bros.

With Peach in one hand, he uses the other to make wide, clumsy swings with his claws, which Mario and Luigi easily dodge, landing their own strikes, which were more or less effective in causing him to stumble and stagger.

A lucky swipe catches Luigi and he goes spiraling away, landing on the ground and groaning. Mario turns away from Bowser for a second to look at Luigi, and it is a second too long. Bowser snatches Mario up and laughs at his victory.

"Finally! Your head is my pre-dinner snack, plumber! I'd cook you first, but raw Mario sounds a whole lot more appetizing.

"M-Mario, no!" Peach yells as Bowser parts his jaws wide and prepares to fit Mario inside so he can crunch down and end the plumber once and for all. A moment before that can happen, something flies through the air and hits the Koopa King square in the gut. The forces is enough to make him let go of Mario, but retain his grip on Peach. Mario rolls away and looks to see what saved his life.

The curled-up object that struck Bowser turns out not to have been an object at all, but a person. Rosalina uncurls and stands up, glaring at Bowser.

"I fired myself from your nose cannon." Rosalina explains with a nod to Mario. "With Peach _here_, there was no use in us taking any more damage… The Starship Mario is retreating."

"That's alright!" Mario responds. "We'll assess the damage after we clean-a Bowser's clock!"

Bowser growls, shaking off Rosalina's blow and roaring. He starts to charge at Mario, who also charges, with Rosalina at his side, when a loud voice stops everyone in their tracks.

"ATTENTION!"

Everyone looks up to see who spoke and where the voice came from. It takes a few second for many present to realize that they recognize the voice.

There is a brief flash of light, and in an instant, a folded letter appears in the hands of everyone on the pinnacle of Magma Manor. In another flash of light, a giant, animate, disembodied hand appears, waving.

"Attention, attention!" the hand's commanding voice repeats. "Sorry to interrupt this lovely little event, but it is with the greatest of honors that I, Master Hand, invite and/or reinvite you, mighty heroes of your world, to the World of Trophies, where in a short month, you will compete in a glorious tournament for fame and prestige against each other, as well as the greatest heroes of _other_ worlds! If my generous offer intrigues you, please tell me now that you accept, and-"

"I accept! _I accept_!" Peach squeals, wanting to do anything to get out of Bowser's grasp.

"…and you and your invitation will be immediately transported to the gates of the Smash Mansion." Master Hand finishes with less enthusiasm. "Please let me finish next time!"

He tsk-tsks, then aims a finger at Peach, firing a beam which causes her to vanish into thin air. Bowser gapes.

"Hey! I accept, too!" he growls. Master Hand fires a similar beam at Bowser and he, too, disappears.

"W-What? Dad?" Bowser Jr. gasps. "What did you do to my dad, you creepy hand thing?"

"Accept the invitation and you'll find out." Master Hand responds. If he had lips, he'd smirk.

"Fine! I accept!" Bowser Jr. growls.

"Excellent choice!" Master Hand cheers, teleporting Bowser Jr.

"Hm… Nah, sorry. Sounds too scary for me." Parakarry says with a shrug. The invitation vanishes out of his hand.

"I accept." Rosalina says with a nod. She vanishes.

"That jut leaves you two veterans!" Master Hand acknowledges. Mario and Luigi look at each other.

"We accept." they say together.

"Excellent! It'll be good to have you two back! Wouldn't be a tournament without you, Mario."

The two brothers also vanish, and soon after, Master Han vanishes as well, leaving no trace of his existence.

Kamek, who was floating nearby and observing, gawked as her king disappeared.

"…RETREAT!" the Magikoopa hag squawks, loud enough for every Koopa Troop in Toad Town to hear. On cue, every single Goomba, Koopa, and Koopa-variant begins to flee, screaming like little girls. Within a few minutes, the entire endless army has cleared the town and has fled back to their lair. Magma Manor follows close behind them, and Toad Town returns to its original state of operation, except for Toadsworth, who is still stuck to the wall…


	2. Invitations 2: Link's Nightmare

Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong…

Link realized this as he and Queen Zelda, beside him, stared up with wide eyes at what was intruding upon the main foyer of Hyrule Castle. What appeared to be a giant floating sphere of thick swirling purple clouds loomed in front of them. Occasionally, purple lightning would flash within the sphere, but Link and Zelda were much more interested in what _else_ was within the sphere.

Floating about randomly with neither rhyme nor reason were the three sacred fragments of the Triforce. Link wondered how this could be possible, for when he looked at the back of his hand, and even Zelda's, their Triforce symbols continued to glow and resonate. He looked up again at the sound of laughter. The sphere was _laughing…_

The sound of the laugh was both familiar and not. It took a moment for Link to chillingly recognize the voice of his archenemy, Ganondorf, but there was something else in the voice. Something deeper, darker… More evil than even the Dark Lord himself…

In the blink of an eye, a sharp-tipped tendril shot out of the menacing orb and impaled Zelda in the chest before either Zelda or Link could react and protect themselves. Zelda drew in a wet gasp as her eyes go even wider, and Link's blood runs cold as the Queen of Hyrule is yanked into the air by the murderous entity.

"Zelda..!" Link screams at the top of his lungs, dropping his Hylian Shield and futilely extends a hand toward her.

"L-Link…" Zelda wheezes, weakly extending her own hand before she breathes her last. Her arm drops and her eyes close. The Triforce fades from the back of her hand.

The evil entity cruelly tosses Zelda's corpse against a wall, her royal blood staining the stone as she slides down into a crumpled heap on the floor. But instead of remaining there, like most corpses do, her body begins to glow, and before Link's eyes, Zelda transforms into a glossy trophy of herself…

Grief-stricken and utterly outraged, Link takes his sword with both hand and roars like a beast as he charges at the thing that has invaded his home and killed his best friend. He leaps high into the air and prepares to drive the Master Sword into the being's body, but a moment before he can, he sees something strange. There are now _four_ fragments of the Triforce within the entity's body, and instead of its normal bright and shining golden light, the new fragment has been stained an awful sickly light-purplish color. The sight nearly makes Link ill, but he holds himself together long enough to swing his blade downward.

The strike does not have the effect that Link desired. His blade shatters in two, something that should not be possible, and Link and his broken weapon bounce violently off of the entity, landing hard on the floor.

Link groans as he struggles to lift himself to his feet. Though with no weapon and with his shield far in front of him, he is next to nothing. The evil entity laughs again, and then another odd event occurs. The four fragments of the Triforce that lie within the thing's body start to converge. The three regular glowing fragments come together to form the Triforce as Link knows it: three upward-pointing triangles with a downward-pointing space that was not meant to be filled. But the evil-looking fourth fragment does what should not be done: it points downward and then fits itself into that space, forming a whole triangle, a 'Tetraforce', albeit unevenly shaded. Purple lightning violently flashes within the sphere of evil, and slowly, the corruption that seems to have gripped the intruding fragment begins to work on the other three, and Link watches with horror as within moments, _all_ of the Tetraforce becomes evil-looking and corrupted.

The sphere of evil laughs again, and another tendril of darkness shoots forward, intending to kill him and steal his Triforce of Courage as well. A fraction of a moment before Link can be skewered, he awakens with a start, screaming.

Link breathes heavily as he grasps his head with both hands and tries to calm himself. He looks around quickly. He's not at Hyrule Castle. He's at home in Ordon Village, shirtless in his bed, sweating buckets.

"Link!" cries a desperate voice that he at first confuses for Zelda's, whose final weak uttering is still fresh in his ears.

The letter 'Z' is formed on his lips and he is a second away from calling out Zelda's name when the front door flies open and someone who's not Zelda comes running in.

"Zzzzzz- I-Ilia?" Link stammers. His human friend either doesn't hear or doesn't acknowledge his slip of the tongue and continues running until she is kneeling at Link's bed, panting as hard as he was, and probably sweating nearly as much.

"Link, what's the matter?" Ilia asks, out of breath. "I was passing by your house when I heard you just scream! What happened?"

Link is still cradling his head in his hands, trying to recover from the shock of realizing that what he just saw was his imagination… or was it..?

"I…" Link starts. Ilia looks around, then stands, grabbing a hand towel that's folded nearby and starting to wipe the sweat from Link's body. Something about this gesture makes Link's heart pound hard in his chest for a moment. "I... just had a bad dream, is all."

"I have bad dreams, too, Link, and I don't scream like that when I wake up from them." she says, placing one soft hand against his heart and grimacing as she feels it beat back against her hand. "Jeez, Link, you feel like you ran a marathon on one foot…"

Link doesn't respond for a minute, letting Ilia's soft touch slow his heartbeat. In the interim of silence, Link decides to look over Ilia for no real reason at all that he has the insight to acknowledge at the time. He scans her short-cut, straw-blonde hair, her round, soft face, still exuding youth, her thin, high-arched brows, her gentle, never-painted lips, soft cheeks that carried the hint of a blush… and her inquisitive sharp green eyes that stare back at him. Link had been caught staring.

"What?" Ilia asks, frowning and feeling her face. The way her face tenses a little tells Link that she can feel the warmth on her cheeks. "Is there another bug in my hair?"

Link looks, and is relieved to find that there is indeed a little beetle squirming around in Ilia's hair, which he promptly picks out and tosses aside. "Yeah. I got it." he covers for himself, swinging his legs over the bed and dusting the wrinkles out of his pants.

"Oh, thanks." Ilia says in an uncharacteristically bashful manner. There's another moment of silence. "…So, what was your dream about?"

Link's throat tightens. Ilia is one of the last people he wants to frighten with his awful vision, so he tries to cover for himself again. "U-Uh… It was just a bad dream I said. Falling dream, yeah." he says, nodding too quickly. Ilia frowns.

"Link… If it's so bad that you have to lie to me about it, I _have_ to know. I can help you." she says, helping him up out of the bed. Link takes note that he and Ilia are once again about the same height; she had caught up to him.

"No, you can't…" Link sighs. "Not with this one…" He reaches over for his tunic, but Ilia grabs his wrist, glaring angrily at him.

"How would you know, unless you tell me, fool?" she berates Link. "No dream is too horrible to be talked through, now tell me!"

"I'll tell you later…" Link sighs again, pulling his hand from Ilia's grasp and grabbing his tunic, pulling it on. His vision is obscured for a few moments, and when he can see again, Ilia is standing in front of his door, arms crossed, lip pouted.

"You're not leaving this house until you tell me what bothered you so much that you screamed _mournfully_ about it."

Link's throat tightens visibly. Was his shout that expressive..? "You can't keep me in my own house, Ilia."

"Get past me, then." she huffs, knowing that her friend would never touch her to risk hurting her.

"Ilia…" Link protests, getting annoyed. "I have to be at Hyrule Castle today. The Queen expects me there by noon."

"News to me." Ilia says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm coming with you, remember? Or I will, rather, once you tell me what's wrong with you."

After all that Link has gone through in his journeys through Hyrule, and even beyond, he is flabbergasted at the thought that _this_ is his insurmountable obstacle… He has genuine reasons for why he doesn't want to tell Ilia about his dream: he doesn't want to scare her, and he doesn't want her to feel she can help, because he knows she can't. Not with this…

Inside, though, Link has more selfish reasons for why he is reluctant to tell his childhood friend about his dream: he fears what she'll think about him, what she'll think about Queen Zelda, and what she'll think about the relationship between them that had steadily been growing. Link remembers being unable to stop smiling for minutes after reading a letter from Zelda informing him of recent affairs that include her turning down another eligible suitor. What would Ilia do if she began to suspect..?

"Link, tell me!" Ilia says firmly.

Panicked, he answers, "I had a dream that you died! That I watched you die!"

Ilia freezes up, and she swallows hard, blinking at Link with eyes wider than normal. "Y…You cried out like that… because you had a dream that you saw me die..?" she asks, her voice getting softer. Link swallows the lump of shame in his throat and nods. There is another brief moment of silence before Ilia steps forward and wraps her arms around Link, hugging him tightly and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"I'll always be here for you, Link. Always." she whispers softly to him. Link's heart begins to pound again as he takes in the feeling of Ilia's warm body against his, the woody scent of nature that always seemed to surround her, her soft voice in his ear… And then an image of Zelda plastered itself against his mind's eye, and Link suddenly felt as if a rent had been run in the fabric his soul. Finally, Ilia lets go and smiles at her Hylian hero of a friend. "You get your things together. I'm going to bring Epona around."

Ilia keeps her eyes on Link as she backs toward the door before finally turning away to open it and exit. As soon as Ilia is gone, Link collapses onto the bed and cradles his head in his hands again as he struggles with these feelings burning his insides… He knows he has feelings for Zelda, but he now knows he is harboring feelings for Ilia. Worse still, these feelings are intruding upon each other in Link's mind, and he has to admit that he is helpless against an enemy that he can't swing a sword at.

After a momentary inner battle, he pushes the concerning thoughts aside and stands, sighing as he gathers his traveling items.

000

The horseback ride from Ordon Village to Hyrule Castle Town takes about as long as expected, and Ilia, sitting behind Link on Epona's back and clutching him tightly, falls asleep against him several times along the way. Finally, the duo approach the imposing southern gate of their destination, and upon seeing him, the guards quickly stand aside and salute Link.

Many eyes turn and many faces smile as Epona casually gallops down the main road of the town, straight toward Hyrule Castle itself. Several merchants call out to Link, offering him various deals and discounts on wares. He waves politely, but does not stop to partake. The crowds begin to thin as Link passé through the central square, and there is no one impeding him when he begin to ride down the north road toward the castle itself.

He sees her standing just outside the entrance to the castle as he crosses the drawbridge into the garden. And as soon as he sees her, images of her being impaled and broken against the foyer wall run through his head, and Link gets the impression that he hears the evil laughter of that sphere… Link shakes away the thoughts quickly. Epona slows to a halt right in front of Zelda. Link and Ilia dismount, and Zelda quickly rushes up to hug Link.

"You made it!" she says happily. "And… you brought a friend!"

Zelda looks over Link's shoulder at Ilia, who smiles and curtsies. "Hello, my Queen."

"Please, call me Zelda." the young queen chuckles. "It makes me feel three times older when friends use such formalities."

"Pardon, Q- er, Zelda, but, uh… I did not know we were friends." Ilia chuckles nervously, scratching the back of her head.

"Of course we are friends!" Zelda says with a polite smile. "Any friend of Link's is a friend of mine. I was expecting only Link to arrive, though, even though I did not explicitly ask for him to come alone. Might I ask why you are joining him?"

"Well, how often does one get a chance to see and talk to the Queen of Hyrule?" Ilia responds with a smile. "I really planned just to stay and look around until Link was done with business here, then head back home with him."

Zelda nods. "It is wonderful to meet you, Ms…"

"Ilia." the young human introduces herself with a nod.

"Wonderful meeting you, Ms. Ilia." Zelda says, nodding in return before turning to Link. The Hylian hero frowns as he witnesses his friend's face grown graven. "Link, I summoned you because I need to talk to you about something that… I can only talk about with you."

Link's heart grows heavier in his chest. Zelda opens her mouth to speak again, but a bright flash of light interrupts her. Link feels weight on his back that was not there before, and when he feels behind himself with one hand, he is shocked to find the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield strapped to his back. In his other hand is a sealed letter. Zelda blinks away the spots in her vision as she feels the weight of the Bow of Light on her back. She, too, is holding letter

Another curious thing occurs. More people are present than before a moment ago. Zelda turns her head and gasps as she sees someone who should not be here, but in the catacombs of the Castle, where he would supposedly never again see the light of day. She sees the hibernating body of the King of Evil, Ganondorf. The fatal glowing wound made by the Master Sword is still present, and in his stiff grip is another, similar-looking letter.

Close by, three more newcomers become present. Wielding an exact copy, if not the very same, blade that Link now wears on his back, a young boy very similar to Link exchanges sword swings with a much larger man that looks similar in base appearance to the half-dead Dark Lord nearby. A little ways away from the two swordsmen was a blonde girl, wielding an exact copy, if not the very same, bow that Zelda wore on _her_ back. She was similar in appearance to Zelda, except her hair was blonde instead of brunette. She aimed at the large man, and a glowing arrow formed against the bowstring. The Zelda-copy releases the arrow, which end up becoming a misfire as it bounces off the Link-copy's Mirror Shield and goes flying toward Ilia, who screams and ducks. Notably, Ilia is the only person not holding a letter.

All three of the new combatants stopped and looked around as they realized that they were not where they were a moment ago. The larger Link is utterly confused until he locks eyes with his halfling clone and recognizes him.

"Toon Link?" he identifies the child, who squints before smiling and waving as he recognizes his older incarnation.

"Past Link!" Toon Link calls. He suddenly tenses and grimaces, clutching his left wrist. The bigger Link frowns with confusion, then suddenly begins to feel what Toon Link must be feeling: a powerful burning sensation in his left hand, where his Triforce of Courage resides. Both Zeldas wince in pain and stare at their right hands, the Triforce of Wisdom. Even the large incarnation of Ganondorf raises an eyebrow and stares at the back of his right hand, his Triforce of Power.

Link's eyes are drawn toward his world's Ganondorf for some reason, and he realizes with horror that his own Triforce of Power has begun to glow. That could only mean one thing…

"I…" Ganondorf's rasping voice starts. "Live…." His voice becomes stronger with each word. "Once…. More!"

Ganondorf, somehow resurrected by the power of the surrounding Triforce fragments, stands to his feet and breaks away the chains that restrained his body. Everything is still, until a booming and assertive voice breaks the silence: "ATTENTION!"

All seven of those present lift their heads to the sky. In another flash of light, a familiar disembodied hand appears in the air, wiggling his fingers. "Attention, attention!" he repeats.

"Master Hand…" Ganondorf acknowledges with a smirk and a nod.

"Sorry to interrupt any business being conducted and any battles being fought, but it is with the greatest of honors that I, Master Hand, invite and/or reinvite you, mighty heroes of your world, to the World of Trophies, where in a short month, you will compete in a glorious tournament for fame and prestige against each other, as well as the greatest heroes of _other_ worlds! If my generous offer intrigues you, please tell me now that you accept, and you and your invitation will be immediately transported to the gates of the Smash Mansion."

Ilia's eyebrows furl as she listens. Zelda looks first at Link. The two meet eyes and he nods. Zelda then turns her eyes suspiciously upon Ganondorf. She should be shocked, angry, frightened that her sworn enemy is fully alive again, but Master Hand's presence disarms Zelda's emotions. The disembodied gamemaster takes pride in his magical ability to quell conflict with his voice and presence of being.

"If Link accepts, then I'm going, too!" the smaller Zelda chimes. Her form shimmers as she starts to transform. Her flowing mane of hair rises into a single curl on the top of her head. Her skin darkens several shades from fair and pale to milk chocolate. Her elegant robe melts away with the rest of her previous form, and in its place, clothes befitting a pirate, complete with a blood-red bandana scarfed around her throat. She'd turned into her alter-ego, the child queen of the pirates, Tetra. "You promised you'd bring me along if you were invited again!"

"Of course I did!" Toon Link says, rubbing the back of his head. "The Brawl tournament was fun; I can't wait to fight again!"

"You both accept, then?" Master Hand chuckles. Toon Link and Tetra nod.

"As do I." Toon Ganondorf adds. Toon Link turns around and glares at his nemesis, who grins evilly. "The Triforce isn't getting away from me that easily."

Master Hand snaps his fingers and all three of them vanish into thin air.

"This new tournament is just what I need to regain my strength." Ganondorf says. "I accept." He disappears as well.

"Are you going, Link?" Zelda asks with furrowed brows. Whatever she wanted to say to Link was still on her mind.

Link looks at Zelda, then back at Ilia. His heart starts to pound again, so he turns his attention instead to Master Hand. "Yes. I accept."

Master Hand snaps his fingers and Zelda disappears. he is about to point at Link and transport him as well, but Ilia speaks up.

"Wait! Wait!" she yells, running up to Link and turning him to face her. Link opens his mouth to ask Ilia what the matter was, but to his surprise, Ilia wraps her arms around the green-garbed hero, pulls him so that their chests are pressed together, and kisses him deeply.

Link staggers, but Ilia holds onto him tightly, squeezing him closer to her as she adds passion to their embrace. A carnal side of Link that he didn't even know he had begins to take over, and he kisses Ilia back just as eagerly, slipping one hand under her blouse and cupping his hand around the bare skin just above her cloth belt, shivering at the feeling of her cool flesh. The other wraps up into her short, messy hair, pulling her head in closer, deepening the kiss. Both sets of eyes close as they lose themselves for a long moment, and Link can't help but feel that this is right.

When they finally separate, Ilia breathes hot and heavily while Link is still calm.

"Come back to me, Link…" she whispers to him, squeezing him tightly again.

Link has just enough time to nod, kiss Ilia on the top of the head, and say, "Of course I will..." before he disappears as well.

**(A/N: Less than 24 hours and I already have 20 views! That's a win in my book! n_n Be sure to review if you like what you see! I'm doing three more of these invitation chapters before I'm advancing the plot. There's one set of characters I know for sure that I'm going to introduce, but the other two invitation chapter features are still kinda up in the air, so if you have suggestions for which Nintendo universes I should feature alongside my next one, I'd be happy to take them!**

**More characters will be returning to Smash Mansion than I introduce in these starting chapters, so you know. Yoshi, Wario, Donkey & Diddy Kong, etc, will all be returning as well; if you like them, don't fret that they weren't mentioned!**

**Once again, if you would like to make my a happy author, be sure to leave a good review! I'm open to both praise and constructive criticism! :D)**


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